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John Jacob Astor IV

John Jacob Astor IV (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was an American business magnate, real estate developer, investor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, and a prominent member of the Astor family.

He died in the sinking of the *Titanic* during the early hours of April 15, 1912.[1]

Astor was the richest passenger aboard the RMS Titanic and was thought to be among the richest people in the world at that time, with a net worth of roughly $87 million (equivalent to $2.64 billion in 2022) when he died.[2][3]

From 1894 to 1896, he was a colonel on the military staff of New York Governor Levi P. Morton.[9] Shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in 1898, Astor personally financed a volunteer artillery unit known as the "Astor Battery", which served in the Philippines. In May 1898, Astor was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Volunteers and served as an officer on the staff of Major General William Shafter in Cuba, during the Santiago Campaign. He was later given a brevet (war/temporary promotion) to colonel in recognition of his services.[10] He was mustered out of the Volunteer Army in November 1898.

During the war, he allowed his yacht Nourmahal to be used by the U.S. government. He appeared in the films President McKinley's Inspection of Camp Wikoff (1898) and Col. John Jacob Astor, Staff and Veterans of the Spanish–American War (1899).[4] As a result of his military service, Astor was entitled to the Spanish Campaign Medal. After the war, Astor was often referred to as "Colonel Astor."[11]

Astor was a member of several military and hereditary societies. He was an early member of the New York Society of Colonial Wars and was assigned membership number 138. He was also a member of the Military Order of Foreign Wars, Society of the Army of Santiago de Cuba,[12] and the Society of the American Wars of the United States.

On February 17, 1891,[13] Astor married socialite Ava Lowle Willing, a daughter of Edward Shippen Willing and Alice Barton. The couple had two children:

Astor and Willing divorced in November 1909. Compounding the scandal of their divorce was Astor's announcement that he would remarry.[4] At the age of 47, Astor married 18-year-old socialite Madeleine Talmage Force, the sister of real estate businesswoman and socialite Katherine Emmons Force. Their parents were William Hurlbut Force and Katherine Arvilla Talmage. Astor and Force were married in his mother's ballroom at Beechwood, the family's Newport, Rhode Island, mansion. There was also much controversy over their 29-year age difference.[14] His son Vincent despised Force,[15] yet he served as best man at his father's wedding.[16] The couple took an extended honeymoon in Europe and Egypt to wait for the gossip to calm down. Among the few Americans who did not spurn him at this time was Margaret Brown, later fictionalized as The Unsinkable Molly Brown. She accompanied the Astors to Egypt and France. After receiving a call to return to the United States, Brown accompanied the couple back home aboard RMS *Titanic*.[4]

Among Astor's accomplishments was A Journey in Other Worlds (1894), a science-fiction novel about life in the year 2000 on the planets Saturn and Jupiter.[7] He also patented several inventions, including a bicycle brake in 1898, a "vibratory disintegrator" used to produce gas from peat moss, and a pneumatic road-improver, and he helped develop a turbine engine.

Like generations of Astors before him, he also made millions in real estate. In 1897, Astor built the Astoria Hotel, "the world's most luxurious hotel",[8] in New York City, adjoining the Waldorf Hotel owned by Astor's cousin and rival, William. The complex became known as the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The Waldorf-Astoria would later be the host location to the U.S. inquiries into the sinking of the RMS Titanic, on which Astor died.[4]

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